This week Tina Fey, writer and star of US sitcom 30 Rock, was honoured with the prestigious Mark Twain Prize for American Humour. Previous recipients include Steve Martin, Whoopi Goldberg and Bill Cosby. Fans of the one-woman gag factory behind Mean Girls, Saturday Night Live, that infamous Sarah Palin impersonation and the aforementioned joke powerhouse of a sitcom will be raising their Liz Lemon-approved hotdogs in salute. Let's take time to bask in some of her finest moments:

▶ Her snippy interplay with screen boss Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) includes some of the finest putdowns written by man or woman since Dorothy Parker. Examples include: "I like you. You have the boldness of a much younger woman." "Lemon, women your age are more likely to be mauled at the zoo than get married."

▶ Fey's 2004 feature film writing debut, Mean Girls, was a trenchant encapsulation of the high school experience. The droll couplets flew forth like a food fight in a canteen. Two enduring favourites are the following. When Janice introduces new girl Cady (Lindsay Lohan) to her effeminate friend: "This is Damian. He's almost too gay to function." And later, Janice points out the school gossip to Cady: "She knows everything about everyone." Damian agrees: "That's why her hair is so big. It's full of secrets."

▶ Fey's impression of Sarah Palin appeared on Saturday Night Live in the run up to the US election, and lives on thanks to YouTube. Almost too many gems to choose from, but this, from an election debate sketch, is hard to beat: "While Senator Biden has been in Washington all these years, I've been with regular people. The hockey moms and Joe Six-Packs. And I'd also like to give a shout out to the third graders of Gladys Woods Elementary who were so helpful to me in my debate prep."